Design of an airborne vertical axis wind turbine for low electrical power demands

Abstract

An airborne vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) is a new approach in wind turbine development. In this paper, a new design of the airborne VAWT which can produce electricity for a light-emitting diode (LED) system is exhibited. A gas balloon is used as the turbine and features a special blade design to convert wind energy into rotation of the electrical generator. The turbine was designed to meet the characteristics of wind in limited terrestrial wind speed areas. The generator was designed to be lightweight whilst retaining favorable performance for electricity generation. Performance test results showed that the developed generator could provide the required power supply for a LED system. Moreover, the generator can also recharge the batteries used as a voltage regulator for the LED system.